The sprint race, which gives 36 points to the top 8 places in the first half hour of on-track action on Saturday at Austin’s United States Grand Prix, started at the Circuit of the Americas with Max Verstappen leading, followed by George Russell’s Mercedes, the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and the McLaren of Lando Norris, in 19 exciting laps representing a third of Sunday’s race total.
Verstappen showed his experience at the start of the race with a great start, where George Russell held second place until the pack arrived at turn 1, where Lando Norris, with a spectacular maneuver on the inside, overtook Charles Leclerc and snatched second place from Russell to find himself behind Verstappen.
Before the end of lap 1, Leclerc and Russell engaged in a wheel-to-wheel duel that finally favored the Briton, marking third place for the Mercedes.
On lap 3, the two Ferrari drivers engaged in a duel for fourth position. Carlos Sainz threatened but unsuccessfully stayed behind the #16 Ferrari, when Leclerc expressed over the radio, “We’ve got to try and come back on the others, if possible,” to the Ferrari pit.
The stewards reported an incident involving Kevin Magnussen, stating that he “gained advantage by leaving the track” on lap 3.
As the race reached lap 5, Max Verstappen led by a margin of just over a second, as George Russell stayed close behind Lando Norris.
Sainz finally overtook his teammate on lap 5 with a maneuver at the start of Turn 19 on lap 5, staying ahead and closing the gap to George Russell, who was running in third place.
The stewards marked under investigation an incident between Pierre Gasly and Oscar Piastri for an apparent “forcing another driver off the track” on lap 9 by the Australian, who eventually received a 5-second penalty.
Halfway on the Sprint, the TOP 10 consisted of Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton, Magnussen, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda and Pérez.
Sainz stated the power of his SF-24 when on lap 9 he overtook Russell racing through the inside of the corner to take third place.
“My front left is toast,” expressed George Russell to his pit crew shortly before being overtaken by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who was then in P4, leaving the Briton P5, ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
With 10 laps to go, Colapinto kept the Williams in P11, fighting against a feisty Oscar Piastri who was trying to move up the grid. They were followed by Stroll, Gasly, Ocon, Lawson, Alonso, Albon, Bottas and Zhou.
When the board marked lap 13, a battle developed between Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda for P9, a duel that finally took the Mexican, while Piastri, who had overtaken Colapinto, was waiting to attack against a Yuki Tsunoda who showed complicated.
Despite that, the Japanese driver stayed in front of the McLaren, ignoring indications to give the position back to the Australian. “He pushed me off. If I didn’t go off I definitely had a contact, for sure!”. Eventually, the incident was under investigation as “leaving the track and gaining an advantage,” from which “no further action” was concluded, as Piastri finally managed to overtake the Japanese on lap 16.
At the front of the pack, Leclerc was getting dangerously close to his teammate, as Sainz was completing the podium behind Verstappen and Norris.
“Just make sure you look after the car when racing” Lewis Hamilton was told with two laps remaining to finish the Sprint, as the 7-time world champion stayed in the DRS zone for his teammate.
“Goes without saying, but keep it nice and clean” was the instruction Russell received.
The last lap started with a three-way-fight for second place on the podium, where Carlos Sainz took advantage of the DRS on the main straight and, when taking the first corner, overtook Norris on the inside when the McLaren locked up, taking P2 for Ferrari. Norris raced the last lap ahead of Leclerc when he finally locked up again at turn 14 opening the door for the Monegasque, who finally failed to overtake the McLaren driver.
Max Verstappen’s Red Bull took the lap record and the win on the Sprint Race at Cota, as Sainz and Norris completed the podium, ahead of Qualifying for Sunday’s main race.
Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, Magnussen, and Hulkenberg were the other drivers who collected points on the second to last Sprint of the year.
